Our first Geek of the Week for this term is not an educator in the traditional sense, but through his documentary work, filmmaker Ken Burns has managed to make us all students of that most vital of subjects, our history.
While not the first, Burns is certainly an important popularizer of the notion that history is more than regurgitating dates and facts and naming three proximate and five contributary causes of the American Civil War, it is about people and their stories. Using the words of both historical figures and ordinary citizens and a technique of panning, fading, and zooming in on still images -- known as the Ken Burns effect -- Burns is able to bring life to stories for which moving images are not available. His documentaries cover a diverse range of subjects, from sports to politics, conservation to music, travel to wars. But in addition to the subject they are ostensibly covering, each is a tiny time machine; a brief but vivid journey into to the eras they are depicting. While they are about the United States of America, they explore universal themes and examine why the knowledge of our past is vital to each and every one of us.
For his diversity of interests, his obvious passion for his subject matter, and his devotion to sharing his passions with us all, Ken Burns makes a most fitting Ravenclaw Geek of the Week!
Learn more about Ken Burns:
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Photo credit Cable Risdon
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